Google's ever-so-clever Google Translate service may be falling foul of a problem known to grizzled engineers across the globe: garbage in, garbage out.
The problem was discussed by Google's director of research, Peter Norvig at the Nasa Innovative Advanced Concepts conference at Stanford, California on Wednesday, in response to …

Re: Data retention, it's all the rage

Better yet, since click through agreements are all the rage for software and websites, put one on the Google Translate service. In it you require anyone using the service for a website translate to put in a translate_robots.txt tag to indicate the translation came from Google translate. Or maybe get really fancy and allow it to specify how the translation was created.

re. chat(s)

Google translates the entire thing as, "Do not disturb the sleeping cat, please. I have other fish to fry."

If you remove the first sentence, Google then translates the second sentence correctly. I could understand it 'correcting' the word 'cat' to 'fish' if it was using some kind of recognition of common expression algorithm, but not the behaviour as seen.

Update: If you have anything as a first sentence, it gives 'fish' in the second, instead of 'cats'. Then after more messing around, it always gives 'fish', no matter how you arrange it.

Re: www.myhovercraftisfullofeels.com

IIRC

When we tried feeding cows and pigs to cows and pigs we ended up with mad cow disease and foot and mouth, so by about half past eleven tomorrow Google could be exhibiting some very twitchy Skynet type behaviour otherwise known as having gone Ballmer.

WHATEVER Google Translates shortcomings ...

The Cong An (People's Police) in VietNam have equipped all their sleeping quarters (aka police stations') with computers so the can communicate with Foreigners.

The same has happened in Cambodia/Kampuchea and Laos.

I am able to quickly scan e-mail and web sites in languages foreign to me and at least get the gist of what it is about. Damn site cheaper than paying USD$5/A4 sheet of print for a professional translator.